I have to take my hat off to this guy. Many of us, seeing an abomination in the name of sign-writing, simply shudder, grind our teeth and move on.
Not so for Jeff Deck.
During the course of 2½ months, he and a friend travelled the US, noting and altering as many offences as possible. Mostly though – and this is worth a solid gold win right here – they tried to get the owners of the signs to make the changes themselves.
Education! Yes, that’s the key!
Some time later, they now have a book about their experience. Click on the picture to learn more about it and read an extract.

For some reason, all I want to do is sit down and read it, red pen on standby…

Thanks to Tanya for this find!

I got a dream…

I want to be a writer. A real published one. I am working on it and I have a book stuck on the last chapter, supposedly delayed because of my thesis writing.  Anyway, I am sure you’ve heard it all before but let me assure you I have no misconceptions about the chances of my making it and  I sincerely hope I am not as bad as some of  these people. The link is to the tumblr  of a literary agent who vents frustration over queries he/she has received.  A specimen  for your delectation “I’d like you to consider representing my fictional novel.” Like … thank glod dude it’s not an actual honest to god novel. The whole thing is just 5 pages long but it varies from the ALL CAPS person to the God speaks through me loony. All in all something to make your day.

And what would a post about writing be  without this song?

There’s plenty of us out in the real world that like to partake of Terry Pratchett’s written works, so I thought I’d share a couple of items that may be of interest to you – and to those who may be interested in the items involved. First, a pic of me with the man himself:

Firstly, Terry took part in a -well, let’s call it a promotional exercise by the National Portrait Gallery. The idea was to write a short story about the subject of a painting where the sitter’s name has long since been forgotten. Mr P. submitted a piece called “The Tale of Joshua Easement”. As you can guess, it’s not entirely serious…
Go visit The Times Online to read the story (especially since it’s not likely to appear in a book). Alternatively, you can visit the National Portrait Gallery page to find out how ye could go and see the whole ‘Imagined Lives’ display.
Secondly, our man gives us an update on the next/final Tiffany Aching Novel and the forthcoming feature-length production of ‘Going Postal’. However, that is secondary to the meat of his communique: In it, Pterry talks more about his Alzheimers and the issue of death with dignity – made all the more poignant by a personal tragedy.
Read the whole thing over at PJSM Prints.

Check out this Pop-up book by artist David A. Carter.

via Computerlove

This book sounds crazy.
From the BBC:

In 1991, James Palumbo co-founded the Ministry of Sound club in south London. Over the past 18 years, the brand has grown into the multi-million pound business MSHK, encompassing a record label, radio and TV stations and a soon-to-be-released fashion label. Now Palumbo has turned his hand to being an author.

His first novel, Tomas, is a biting satire in which the reluctant star of an absurdly low-brow reality TV show goes on a killing spree, mowing down the grotesque patrons of an exclusive club in the French Riviera. In the ensuing media frenzy, Tomas becomes a messianic figure, enlisting the help of a beautiful prostitute, an elderly judge, an alcoholic journalist, a spherical alien and the Emperor Napoleon.

Publishing companies keep producing trailers for books, which is like using cocaine to get someone hooked on alcohol, but with a description like the one above you want to watch these trailers. NSFW Read the rest of this entry »

Coraline is an award winning novella by Neil Gaiman that has been compared to Alice in Wonderland.  The story is being turned into an animated film due out in February 2009. The trailer can be seen below, but more fun is to be had at the official website.

EDIT: It looks like they have updated the site, click the link and then go to the theater, you can watch the trailer or skip it.  Then you’ll find all the videos.  It is no longer necessary to enter the keys below.

When you go to the Coraline site, you are prompted for a key.  The keys unlock short videos giving you a peek behind the scenes and introducing you to the makers of the film.  Very cool, here’s the keys I have:

moustachio

sweaterxxs

puppetlove

armpithair

stopmotion

buttoneyes

While I am partial to moustachio, as a child raised on Burt Reynolds, the other videos are incredible look behind the scenes. Oh, did I mention that the director, Henry Selick, also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Trailer–

John over at Uncertain Times posted this, it is truly awesome.

According to Uncertain Times it’s, “A film for 4th Estate Publishers’ 25th Anniversary. Produced by Apt Studio.”

The Vimeo page says:

The film was produced in stop-motion over 3 weeks in Autumn 2008. Each scene was shot on a home-made dolly by an insane bunch of animators; you can see time-lapse films of each sequence being prepared and shot in our other films.